Two men have been sent to prison in the United Kingdom for stealing a 98kg solid gold toilet worth £4.8 million (about ₦9.2 billion) from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
The toilet, made of 18-carat gold and fully functional, was stolen just hours after a grand launch party in September 2019.
James ‘Jimmy’ Sheen, 40, from Oxford, admitted to breaking into the palace, stealing the toilet, and selling parts of the gold. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Michael Jones, 39, also from Oxford, was found guilty of taking part in the theft. He was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
While sentencing them on Friday, Judge Ian Pringle described the theft as “bold and brazen,” saying it took just over five minutes. He told Sheen, “You were almost certainly the figure who carried the sledgehammer on which your DNA was found and which was used to sever the functioning toilet from its connecting pipes.”
The toilet, titled America, was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was displayed as part of an exhibition at the palace.
Police later found Sheen’s DNA at the crime scene and gold dust on his clothes. His phone also contained text and voice messages that showed he helped plan and profit from the theft.
In one message, Sheen sent a picture of £520,000 in cash with the message: “520,000 ha ha ha.”
He used coded language like “car” to mean gold. In one voice note, he said, “The car is what it is mate, innit? The car is as good as money.” In another, he said, “I think you know what I’ve got… I’ve just been a bit quiet with it.”
Shan Saunders, a senior prosecutor, said the case was unusual because of the amount of information found on Sheen’s phone. “The mix of coded language, Romany slang, and Cockney rhyming slang made the messages difficult to understand,” she said.
Sheen later sold about 20kg of the gold to an unknown buyer in Birmingham for £520,000.
Jones, who worked as a roofer for Sheen, had visited Blenheim Palace twice before the theft. On his second visit, he booked a slot to use the gold toilet and took photos of it and the door lock. During the trial, he said he used the toilet and described the experience as “splendid.”
CCTV shown in court captured a group of five men breaking into the building and carrying the toilet away. It’s still unclear whether Jones was there during the raid.
Police first arrested Sheen and Jones in October 2019 but released them. It took four more years before enough evidence was gathered to charge them.
Detective Superintendent Bruce Riddell of Thames Valley Police said, “We arrested 12 people during this investigation, and it brought a huge number of digital devices to go through.” He said the investigation also slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sheen was already serving a 19-year sentence for earlier crimes. His new four-year sentence will be added to his current term.
Another man, Fred Doe from Windsor, was convicted in March for trying to help sell the stolen gold. He was given a 21-month suspended sentence. A jeweller from London, Bora Guccuk, was found not guilty.
Three or four people who took part in the break-in are still on the run. Detective Riddell said police believe they know the identity of two of them and are still working on the case.
“We’re asking anyone with even the smallest piece of information to come forward,” he said. “That little detail could be what helps us bring the rest to justice.”
